PHOENIX RISING FROM THE FLAMES?

The ill-fated PHOENIX FESTIVAL could rise again this year, in the wake of the cancellation of GLASTONBURY.

Mean Fiddler boss Vince Power has admitted to NME.COM that he’s considering reviving the 45,000 capacity event, which was last held in 1997 at Long Marston, Stratford-Upon-Avon. The event was cancelled the following year because of poor ticket sales and the headline act, New Order, went on to play Mean Fiddler’s main Reading Festival.

Power said: “If there were two headliners out there, I would consider doing it. One of the reasons I think Glastonbury suffered was a lack of headliners. By headliners I mean the real big acts – I think you could name a few.”

When asked whether he was talking about acts like REM and Madonna, who were tipped to be playing Glastonbury this year, he replied cagily: “That sort of thing.”

If Mean Fiddler do decide to re-introduce Phoenix, then an announcement would be made “in the next couple of weeks”.

For the full story, see this week’s NME, out nationwide today (January 17).